US 5,285,607 AGranted

Building exterior wall panel

AssigneeSomerville Associates Inc.

InventorJohn W. Somerville

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Abstract

Exterior insulating building wall panels are disclosed. The wall panels comprise an insulating plastic foam board having disposed therein one or more structural reinforcing members strong enough that the wall panel can be used to span between primary structural framing members of the building without surface supporting assistance from any intervening structural element or supporting substrate. In the preferred embodiments, Truss T's are embedded in channels in the plastic foam board, parallel to each other, and are held in the channels by beds of adhesive and perimeter C-channels. The wall panels are mounted to the building primary framing members by clips which are e.g. welded to the primary framing member and are movably mounted to the structural reinforcing members in the wall panel. Methods of fabricating the wall panels, and methods of installing the wall panels on buildings are also disclosed, as well as the resulting building structural wall system.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A preformed structural exterior building wall panel, for placement on a building, said building wall panel comprising:

(a) a board comprising an effectively unitary slab of plastic foam material having a first major surface for disposition toward the interior of a building, and a second major surface, opposing said first major surface, for disposition toward the exterior of a building, said first major surface having a spaced apart channel extending thereacross, to receive a structural member thereinto, said channel having a depth;
(b) an elongate structural member secured in said channel and extending substantially across the entire respective dimension of said major surface of said board, said structural member, as secured in said channel, comprising
(i) an external flange disposed adjacent said major surface of said board, said external flange extending in a direction transverse to the depth of said channel and supporting said major surface of said board,
(ii) a web extending from said external flange into the interior of said board and terminating on the interior of said board, between said first and second major surfaces, and
(iii) an internal flange extending transversely from said web on the interior of said board, the dimensions of said internal flange transverse to said web, and said width of said channel, being cooperatively sized and configured such that said internal flange is received within said channel along the extent of the respective said depth as taken progressively from said first major surface, and
(c) a bed of adhesive in said channel and surrounding said internal flange, whereby a portion of said bed of adhesive is disposed between said internal flange and said first major surface of said board.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.